Los Tamaraos puts ’em away

MANILA, Philippines—English veteran Max Charlton delivered five goals as Los Tamaraos hacked out an 8-7 upset win over Tang Polo Sunday to bag the championship of the Globalport Philippine Polo Open 2015 at Manila Polo Club.

Charlton fired two goals in the fourth and final chukker, including the match-clinching penalty shot from 40 yards with just 20 seconds left.

“We weren’t playing that well in the first two chukkers, but in the last two we started playing more disciplined and adapted to our horses,” said the 24-year-old Charlton, an eight-goaler who saw action here for the first time.

Cole Aguirre added three goals, the last giving the Los Tamaraos their first lead of the game, 7-6, with 5:05 left in the final chukker.

Earlier, Team Green and Team Red battled to a 3-3 draw in the Patron All-Star game.

Tonio Veloso scored the game-tying goal for Team Red, which also had Iñigo Zobel, Robin Lourvanij and Guillermo Cavanagh, who fired home a pair of goals.

Nino Obregon scored all three goals for Team Green made up of local polo patron Mikee Romero, Tal Srividdhanaprabha and Manot Montilla.

“It was a resounding success,” said Romero, who organized the tournament for the third straight year. “We brought in international players and it was a very good competition.”

Gus Aguirre and Ignacio Ithurburu rounded out the cast for the Los Tamaraos, who dealt Tang Polo’s first loss in the tournament.

Benjamin Urquiza, whose goal tied the match for the last time at 7, led Tang Polo with three goals, while Miguel Diaz added two and Shilai Liu and Kian Hall had one each.